Newsmaker of the Week // Jeff Strunk

The biggest race for 358 Modifieds is the Freedom 76er at Grandview (PA) Speedway. It’s a race that can make a driver’s season with a victory. It can also ruin it with a heartbreaking loss.

Grandview veteran Jeff Strunk, a ten time track champion, has seen both sides of Freedom 76er drama.

He had won the race five times, including the year when it paid $50,000 to win. He lost the race last year when a march from way back in the field ended with a brush with the wall and a blown tire.

In this year’s running of the Freedom race, Strunk was lucky – he started on the pole. He was also wise – he let Ryan Watt go after losing the lead, figuring, correctly, that the race would come back to him.

And when the checkered fell after 76 demanding laps, Strunk won, for a record tying sixth time.

Such achievement by one racer in one high stakes race is rare. It’s uncanny dominance, of News-making virtue.